The present invention relates to a product display for merchandising consumer products. In particular, the present invention relates to a consumer product display including a plurality of consumer products and a display strip capable of vertically supporting the plurality of products while allowing consumer removal of an individual product.
Products are presented to consumers in a wide variety of packages. Packages may take the form of containers, tubes, or bags and others. Additionally, the packaging can be made from a myriad of materials such as foil, paper, or plastic. The packaging of a particular product might be influenced by such factors as how perishable a product is, the weight of a product, or the overall volume of a product. The present invention addresses one choice-of-packaging factor—the manner or means by which a product will be displayed for merchandising. In particular, the present invention seeks to optimize packaging and retailer costs through an innovation in the manner by which packaged products are displayed for merchandising.
A familiar and effective merchandising technique consists of hanging or otherwise vertically displaying a product, which a consumer can later remove from a display for purchase. In the past, manufacturers have included a peg-hole or other hanging means in a product or its package to facilitate product display and merchandising via a hanging wire or other support member provided at the point of purchase. However, incorporating a peg-hole or similar means into the package requires increased packaging material and increased package processing, which translates into increased costs. Often times, only a few products are actually put on hanging display while the majority of product remains racked or shelved nearby. In those instances there is no need for all products to incorporate peg-holes or other hanging means in the package. Furthermore, incorporation of a peg-hole or other display aid may interfere with such package requirements as hermetic seals or even overall aesthetic appeal. In addition, packages incorporating peg-holes must be individually hanged on separate hanging wires. This may be cumbersome for the retailer and ultimately a limiting factor in the merchandising of a particular product.
A solution to some of these problems has been the use of small adhesive tabs or “hangers” with incorporated peg-holes. In the past, these hangers have been attached to either an individually packaged product or individually packaged products that have been shrink-wrapped or otherwise packaged together for subsequent hanging from a hanging wire. A retailer or manufacturer may simply apply the adhesive hanger to the packaged product, thus obviating the need to incorporate a peg-hole into the packaging itself. These adhesive hangers free package designs from some of the limitations associated with incorporated peg-holes or other display means, but problems remain.
One problem with adhesive hangers lies with their inability to support more than one individually packaged product. As a result, each package of products to be displayed requires its own hanger. In turn, a large quantity of these hangers may be required to display a sufficient number of packages. Also, the adhesive hangers still require a merchandiser to individually hang packages on separate hanging wires. This adds to overall display costs, which may limit the display capability of a merchandiser. Yet another problem is the danger of damaging either a package or its adhesive hanger when they are separated from one another. Unfortunately, this danger arises from a failure to optimize the adhesive force for both product removal from, and product support to, the adhesive hanger. Consumer product displays also incorporate problems associated with product shipping, especially in association with products for foreign export. Product displays can present inconvenient handling sizes, a need for overwrapping, shipping fragility, and a myriad of other shipping difficulties.
For the reasons above, a need exists for a cost effective and versatile hangable display capable of removably securing a plurality of consumer products for merchandising. In particular, a need exists for a display strip that minimizes packaging, shipping, and merchandising costs otherwise associated with consumer product displays.